Airport getting runway maintenance grants

A smooth landing and takeoff helps make flight a more pleasurable experience for mankind, and the port district is getting some funds to make it so. 

Grant County Port District #7 commissioners accepted July 20 the first of two Federal Aviation Administration grants to fund runway pavement maintenance.

This first grant is in the amount of $386,000, and Trey Dail of T-O Engineers said that a second grant, estimated at $90,000, is expected in August to provide more funding for the $530,000 estimated total cost of the maintenance. 

An additional $26,500 for the project is anticipated from the Washington State Department of Transportation, with the district itself matching that with a $26,500 contribution.

The maintenance project, anticipated to be completed in the fall, includes “crack sealing, seal coat application and new pavement markings for the runway, taxiways, and aprons at the Airport,” Dail told The Star in an email, adding that the FAA recommends that pavement maintenance be completed every 4-7 years.